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  • 5 minute read

Growing older

If you’d told me twenty years ago that I’d like myself better now than then, my younger self would’ve shrugged off that comment without another thought. Grays are taking over my hairline, I have put on pounds, and it seems that there’s a never-ending discovery of “something new” that’s weird or off with my physiology. Yet, I am happy. Lump this in with the mysteries of this journey we call life. As it turns out, getting old and growing older are distinctly different. While the former references the inevitable decay of the body and/or how many years it’s been since we were born, the latter is a reflection of the gifts of aging. (Spoiler alert: There actually are blessings in growing older.)
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A trio of trinkets on Jamie's kitchen windowsill: a wooden yellow bird with black feathers with the words "Sing to him a new song," along with a miniature Jesus and a wooden cross with the word blessed in cursive printed across it.
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  • 8 minute read

Singing a New Song

More than twenty years ago, when my husband David and I rekindled our relationship that we began in college (maaaany years ago), we, like most couples, had a favorite song. Ours was a bittersweet tune by Dave Matthews Band about a complicated love affair. As time went on, I began feeling a deep, underlying angst about that being the song that we identified with as a couple…
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What to do when you’re prayed out

This strange season of quarantining, physically and socially distancing ourselves from others, and near constant monitoring of how we are collectively faring against COVID has produced in many of us a feeling of hitting the wall when it comes to prayer. Those of us for whom prayer is a lifestyle are ambling through days and nights, both wanting to keep and deepen our walk with God and struggling to stay on that path.
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  • 3 minute read

Shortchanged

Not too long ago, God brought this phrase to my mind: Shortchanged or short on change? It wasn’t a message I wanted to hear. It certainly wasn’t something I wanted to take to heart. I was in the early doldrums of a coming depressive episode… already in the mental quicksand of negative thought patterns, catastrophic thinking, and withdrawal into the fortress I’ve built over time to block out the rest of the world.
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One more step

I was thinking this morning about God’s will for me. Several years ago, it was a revelation to me, embarrassingly, to discover that God’s will for all of us is to bring Him glory and that we do that by learning about Him, trusting Him, obeying Him, and walking in faith. If we do those things, we are assured not only to fulfill our purpose in this earthly life but also to be rewarded in heaven. And, as I’ve also deduced, this Christian journey will take each of us our entire lifetime to complete. As the saying goes, if you still have a pulse, then you have a purpose.
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Weekly intention

This week is heavy for many of us. We feel a sense that an enormous amount is on the line, and our anxieties are winning the majority of our minds while our heart and spirit feel smaller and demoralized. Prayer really can help. It’s not a cliche. Yesterday, I ran across this incredible prayer from Nadia Bolz-Weber. She has a way of just laying it out there before the Lord that I completely respect. He hears us. Give it a go.
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